Monday, September 7, 2009

Calling all Taste Testers

As the cook, I'm the most eager to taste the new recipe I've found or to share it with family. My family's response usually depends upon how many weird ingredients are in the dish.

Most desserts are tried with gusto.

This week, the Word Quilters will share the best new recipe we've tried this year. Hold on a minute. I can't think of the one we like best. I need to go pilfer through that stack of recipes and see if any became favorites. I'll be back in just a jiffy........OK, I'm back. I created a recipe this year.

I have friend who is always taking a basic cookie recipe and changing all sorts of things. I guess I haven't been that courageous with my cooking, but this year, I've wrestled a few recipes, until I got the ingredients and taste about the way I like.

I wanted to duplicate an apricot bread pudding that I had at tea room, this is my duplication:

Easy Apricot Bread Pudding

chop 1 cup dried apricots (soak in 1/2 cup warm water and 2-4 tablespoons of rum for several hours)

1 can condensed milk

2 1/2 cups warm water

4 -5 eggs

2-4 tablespoons melted butter

5-6 cups dried bread pieces (for decadent use dry croissants)

(toasted slivered almonds optional) I add them. Yum!

Spray an 8x8 glass dish with Pam. In separate bowl, gently stir in eggs eggs, and melted butter. Gradually stir in condensed milk, then add warm water. Add bread into bowl with wet ingredients and stir until broken up a bit more. Carefully pour or ladle into glass dish. Bake at 325 degrees until center is set. This is not real sweet, so you may want to add a bit of brown sugar, about a 1/4 cup should be enough. I didn't use a water bath. Just baked it for nearly an hour.

Serve with whipped cream. Enjoy.

I've been freezing bread and bought a few ramekins to fill and bake and take out one at a time when bp craving hits. My favorite bread puddings are those with custard on the bottom. If you have a recipe for a custardy bp, please share.

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